


The Wolf and the Onmyouji

by Kita_the_Spaz



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bonding, M/M, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-03
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-02-03 07:09:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1735676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kita_the_Spaz/pseuds/Kita_the_Spaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi, a wolf-yokai, protects the forest and the village hidden there, participating in a yearly ritual to renew his protection. When a onmyouji shows up for the ritual, things become a lot more complicated than he expected.</p><p><b>Contains (Highlight to view):</b> <span class="spoiler">Little bit of blood. Really nothing to worry about.</span></p><p><b>Prompt/Scenario:</b> #43 by Squeakyninja: AU, Iruka is a priest who exorcises yokai and Kakashi is a wolf yokai who roams the forests surrounding Konoha. Yokai and priests are not supposed to mix but Kakashi and Iruka do. Please use <a href="http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k296/Squeaky1489/kakairugodpriestref.jpg">this</a> as a design ref.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wolf and the Onmyouji

**Author's Note:**

> My head decided if I was going to write this, I was going to do it up proper and do a bit of world-building before I got to the pron. I know it deviated from the original idea a bit but I really hope you enjoy it. My thanks to M for the quick and accurate beta of my painkiller-fueled rambling.

There was someone strange in the forest. The scent came to him on the damp night air, strange and oddly alluring. The power of the interloper washed over his fur like the cool breeze, tasting of sunlight and summer winds. Kakashi growled low in his throat, shaking his massive silver-furred head. In his experience, intruders in his territory were only there for one of two things. They were either seeking his protectorate, or they were hunters after the great White Demon-wolf. And they all met the same fate.

Tipping his head back, Kakashi fixed his mismatched red and ice-silver eyes on the full moon above, peering coyly through the night-shrouded trees and hiding her face with flitting shreds of clouds. There would be no storms tonight, to enhance his lightning with their own sky-fire, but he did not need aid to deal with a single intruder, not even one whose potential thrummed through the still night.

He called his pack, his powerful voice rising about the calls of night-birds and the croaking frogs. One by one, they lifted their voices to join with his, answering his summons with their unique voices. Kakashi knew humans found the packsong eerily unnerving and took great delight in the knowledge that they were already causing the intruder that small dismay.

Slipping out of the forest’s shadows like part of the darkness given form, his pack gathered round him, crowding close with excitement. They would hunt well this night. Kakashi greeted them all solemnly.

When they were all gathered around him, vibrating with eagerness to be off on the hunt, he lifted his head and gave throat to the yipping, ascending hunting cry. Eight voices joined his and they were off, dark shapes scudding over the forest floor like the shadows of clouds crossing the moon’s pale visage.

Kakashi scented the fire first, halting just outside the range of the flickering firelight. He jerked his shaggy head left and right, and obediently his pack melted into the trees, circling the small clearing. When he was sure they were in position, Kakashi edged forward to examine the intruder.

Seated cross-legged by the small fire, hands folded in his lap, the young man appeared to be asleep or in deep meditation. His breaths were calm and even and his heartbeat thudded quietly; slowly. He wasn’t particularly impressive for someone who shone with contained energy, dressed in a simple hakama and gi, long brown hair drawn up in a simple ponytail high on his head. A bone-white juzu adorned his left wrist and a mitsugake his right hand, the leather soft and worn with long use, his yumi and quiver full of arrows lying close at hand. He had a thin scar across the bridge of his nose, pale against the copper of his skin.

“Are you planning on lurking out there all night?” The soft baritone was full of amusement. “If I had wished you harm, you’d be wearing a necklace of arrows by now.” The man hadn’t even opened his eyes, still looking like he was asleep

_The arrogance...!_

Kakashi growled and stalked out of the trees, bits of lightning flickering and arcing over his fur. Drawing himself up to his full height, he towered over the seated man. 

At last, the young man looked up — and farther up — at him, his brown eyes glowing with humor and honest appreciation. “Magnificent,” he breathed softly, almost reverently.

Mollified, Kakashi let the lightning playing across his coat ground out, leaving tiny blackened spots in the loam of the clearing. “You are trespassing in the territory of my pack,” he rumbled, his voice causing the trees around the edges of the clearing to shiver and shed leaves. “A foolish move that has led stronger creatures than you to their deaths.”

His hot breath caused the loose brown hair around the young man’s cheeks to lash at his face and eyes.

“Ah, and your territory includes the Village Hidden in the Leaves, yes?” Brown eyes smiled up at him in an open and disarming expression.

Kakashi flattened his ears to his head, his growl taking on a lower, more threatening note. “Whether it does or does not is none of your business, little mortal.” This human should not know of the village at all, much less the proper name. Kakashi guarded the village as his sire had before him, the old blood-pact renewed faithfully every year at the shrine to his line in the very heart of the village.

“Actually it is,” retorted the human, who rose fluidly to his feet to stalk right up to Kakashi, wearing an annoyed half-smile. Raising an arm, he pointed a finger squarely at Kakashi’s black nose, nevermind the fact that Kakashi’s maw could easily take his entire arm off, if Kakashi were so inclined. “Hiruzen summoned me to the village,” the upstart human finished decisively.

Kakashi took a startled step backward. “What?”

“He summoned me in my capacity as an onmyouji. I have his letter in my bag to prove it if you wish.” Without another word, the young man turned his back to Kakashi and picked up a small rucksack.

Kakashi was torn between annoyance and anger. Annoyance at the human for his utter disregard for Kakashi’s status as the guardian of this area and anger that the old man would summon this upstart man-child to _Kakashi’s_ protectorate. _He_ was more than capable of taking care of anything Hiruzen saw as threatening enough to require an onmyouji.

Growling, Kakashi let lightning wash over his form, adopting the human-like form he used whenever he had to deal with humans. He retained the ears and tail of his natural form, and the fangs, but was otherwise human.

He was rewarded by a flash of surprise in the human’s brown eyes, when the young man turned back to offer him the scroll with Hiruzen’s seal emblazoned on it.

Kakashi reached out to take the scroll.

The human held onto it just a little too long, his startled gaze assessing Kakashi’s form, from clawed toes to the tips of his silver-furred ears. At last, he smiled and released his hold on the scroll. “I’m sorry,” he apologized with a brief bow. “I was surprised. I didn’t know you could shift.”

Kakashi snorted. “You have no idea of the half of things I can do, human.”

“Ah,” Blinking, the man suddenly performed a deeper and far more contrite bow. “I neglected to introduce myself. I am Umino Iruka, onmyouji to Tsunade-sama of Senju.”

Kakashi knew of Tsunade. She been in attendance at the last renewal of the blood-pact, standing behind Hiruzen and watching everything with an assessing hazel gaze. Hiruzen had made sure to introduce her as an ally, and the scent of her blood marked her as one of an old line, all the way back to the founders of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

He relaxed a little. Tsunade was probably to attend this year’s binding ceremony again and Hiruzen had decided having her onmyouji perform the ritual would renew the bonds between Senju and Konoha. He unrolled the scroll and squinted at the bold kanji of Hiruzen’s handwriting. In the formal words required by convention, the scroll did indeed request that Umino Iruka come and take part in a ceremony. Kakashi let the scroll roll back up and sneezed derisively. The old bastard probably thought he could win points with the village elders by having Tsunade’s pet onmyouji perform the blood pact ceremony.

Kakashi was more than half tempted to not even bother showing up for his own ceremony, just to show the petty power-grabbing humans who the true power was around here, but without the blood-pact, his influence would wane until the next ritual. Not his power, certainly, but his presence in the mind of the villagers. It didn’t do well to let them forget his power and who exactly protected them.

Kakashi smirked. Well, He would make the game more interesting. Let this onmyouji come into the village proper with an escort. That would certainly change the balance of power and shake things up a bit.

“At dawn,” Kakashi rumbled cheerily, “We will escort you to the village gates ourselves.”

“We?” Iruka asked warily.

“We,” Kakashi agreed with a wide, dangerous smile that bared his fangs. 

At his mental summons, his pack melted out of the shadows and into the circle of firelight. Though none of them had Kakashi’s sheer size, there was no mistaking them for mortal wolves. Even the smallest of his pack outmassed a normal, mortal wolf by several stone, and the largest was only a tiny bit shy of Kakashi’s stature, though none of them rivaled him for power or mastery of the elemental nature of his protectorate. 

Kakashi twitched an ear in an amused reaction to Iruka’s shocked inhale, but the delighted smile that followed shocked Kakashi to his core. Most humans, even the best trained yokai hunters, would quail at the sight of eight massive wolf-yokai surrounding them in the dark forest.

Iruka laughed breathlessly and held his hand out to the nearest of the pack, palm up and fingers relaxed. With a wary glance at Kakashi, the massive blood-red wolf pressed her nose against his palm, inhaling deeply. Her tail moved slowly, a tentative wag.

Iruka slowly smoothed his fingers over her head and scratched her ears.

She melted, all of the tension going out of her muscles, and shoved her head under his hand for more.

Iruka looked up at Kakashi, brown eyes shining in the firelight. “Never has an onmyouji had a more magnificent escort!”

Kakashi couldn’t help but laugh, pleased. This Iruka was like nothing he’d expected when he’d first scented an intruder.

Allowing the lightning that was as much a part of him as fur and teeth to crackle over him again, Kakashi shifted back to his natural form and stretched out near the fire. Head resting on his crossed forepaws, Kakashi regarded Iruka. “You should get some rest,” he observed. “You should not look tired when you make your entrance.”

Petting two other members of the pack, Iruka chuckled and nodded. Very gently, he disengaged himself and came back to his spot by the fire, dropping down with careless ease into the same pose he had been in when Kakashi had first emerged into the clearing. “I thank you for your offer of an escort,” he intoned formally, bowing his head.

“That sounds suspiciously like a prelude to a ‘but—,’ onmyouji.” Kakashi lifted his head to regard Iruka carefully.

Iruka laughed cheerily. “No, not at all. I find myself incredibly happy to accept. I am a humble man, but your offer is too tempting for even the most virtuous to resist. I am very pleased to accept your escort.” He waved his left hand dismissively, beads of his juzu rattling with the movement. “And call me Iruka. I hate being addressed by my title like it’s some sort of name, which happens far too often in my opinion.”

Kakashi attention was caught by the strand of beads. He could taste the power in them, coppery, like old blood in his mouth. They were carved from bone, and if he was not mistaken, it was human bone. They were very old and thrummed softly to his senses, singing a barely discernable, soothing song. “Your juzu...”

Iruka looked down at the white beads twined around his wrist and caressed them with the fingertips of his opposite hand. “They are meant to tame; to quell a raging spirit. I’ve had them since I was a child, my mother gave them to me.”

Kakashi couldn’t hold back a snort. “I see. Did you mean to _tame_ me with them?”

“No!” Iruka retorted, flushing. “I had not thought that at all! They are merely a relic I have carried since I was old enough to toddle.”

“A powerful relic,” Kakashi mused, leaning in so his nose was almost touching the beads. His breath stirred the tiny hairs on Iruka’s arm. “And an old one, far older than you or your mother.”

Iruka shivered, goosebumps prickling across the skin under Kakashi’s nose.

Kakashi sneezed, breaking the moment. “Not that a puny charm like that could subdue me.”

Iruka chuckled softly, rubbing his arm. “I doubt there is anything in this world that could subdue you, great one.”

“Kakashi,” grumbled Kakashi, laying his ears back. “I’m called Kakashi, not great one, or great White wolf-demon, nor whatever other appellation humans have come up with for me.”

“Kakashi,” Iruka agreed, reaching out to rest a hand on Kakashi’s outstretched foreleg. “It suits you.”

“You should rest now,” Kakashi harrumphed, laying his head across his outstretched forelegs, his nose a breath away from where Iruka’s hand rested.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sky above the treetops was just barely tinted with the rose-pink of dawn when Kakashi’s pack and the onmyouji reached the edge of the cleared area before the gates of Konoha. The village was sleepy and still in the pre-dawn light.

Kakashi smirked. “Now today is hardly the right day for them to be slugabeds, is it? I say we announce the morning.”

He threw back his head and howled, a wild, ululating cry that shattered the morning silence. 

The rest of his pack joined in, their wavering voices soaring in triumphant joy.

Laughing, Iruka tried, producing a surprisingly good howl for an inferior human throat.

When Kakashi judged that they had sufficiently roused the village, he shoved the gate open with one powerful shoulder before standing at Iruka’s left hand. The rest of the pack obediently fell into a loose formation around them and they started into the village.

Startled, sleepy villagers tumbled out, clutching weapons and looking for threats. What they found was their village’s protector strolling casually down the street with a strange young man by his side, and more wolf-yokai prowling around them.

Some of them decided it was too early for this and went back into their houses. Kakashi could hear them hastily look the doors and snorted softly. Others pushed forward to watch the strange procession heading for the center of the village and the tower, residence of the current leader of the village, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Hiruzen waited for them, unflappable despite the early hour. His quiet smile was firmly in place even though he had to have been rousted out of bed by their entrance. “Kakashi,” he greeted simply. The old man had been around since Kakashi had been a cub, stumbling after his sire on uncertain legs, and afforded him only respect, not fear or worship. It was why Kakashi liked him.

“Hiruzen,” Kakashi returned the greeting with a perfunctory bob of his shaggy head. “I found the onmyouji you summoned in my forest. Rather impolite of you to not provide him with a proper escort, so I took it upon myself to offer one.”

Hiruzen’s eyes twinkled in his wrinkled face. “Oh, did you now? Very kind of you.”

Iruka stepped forward and bowed politely. “Allow me to introduce myself; Umino Iruka, onmyouji to Tsunade-sama, of Senju. Thank you for your summons.”

Hiruzen smiled kindly at the younger man. “Just in time, Umino-kun. We’ve been waiting for you.” He patted Iruka’s bowed head in a paternal gesture. “Tsunade-sama will be arriving soon. The ceremony will take place at nightfall tomorrow.” 

Iruka nodded, his face still downturned. 

Hiruzen waved forward his oldest son. “Asuma, here, will show you where you may clean up, Umino-kun, and rest until the ritual.”

Iruka offered another bow to Asuma.

“Kakashi, will you remain in the village until then or return to the forest?” Hiruzen asked.

Kakashi curled his lip. He was not comfortable in the village, without trees around him and with roofs to block out the sky and the moon. He opened his mouth to say he would return to the forest, when he caught sight of Iruka’s face. 

For the first time, the confident, laughing onmyouji looked uncertain, his brown eyes showing a bit of strain in a suddenly drawn face.

“I will stay,” Kakashi said quietly. “My pack will return to the forest to watch over the village,” he qualified quickly, “But I will remain.”

Hiruzen smiled. “Of course.”

Kakashi looked after Iruka, who followed Asuma into the tower. The onmyouji glanced back at him and offered him a wan smile.

Kakashi found a growl rumbling in his throat. There was something off about this year’s ritual. He felt it in his bones, humming in his blood like the lightning that was his to command.

A hand rested on his shoulder.

Startled, Kakashi looked down.

Hiruzen stood beside him, one hand resting on his silver-furred shoulder, unconcerned by the miniature lightning crawling over his coat. “My boy, do you trust me?” he asked calmly, his voice soothing.

“Old man, _what_ is going on here?” Kakashi growled.

“Do you trust me?” Hiruzen persisted. His dark eyes were curiously intent.

“You know I do, bastard,” Kakashi rumbled, making an effort to rein in his lightning before he inadvertently hurt the old man. “But there’s something wrong here.”

“Then trust me when I say nothing is wrong. In fact, something is very, very right.” Hiruzen smiled and removed his hand from Kakashi’s shoulder.

“What do you mean?” Kakashi asked. He gave up on controlling the lightning. It wouldn’t obey his whims when he was this agitated. Instead he channeled it into reshaping his human form.

“You’ll find out more at the ritual.” Hiruzen informed him. “Now do you wish to stay at the shrine or avail yourself of my hospitality?”

Kakashi considered. Normally, the shrine would be the one place in the village where he felt most at ease, even hemmed in by walls, but the memory of Iruka’s drawn face helped to cement his decision. “You know the answer.”

Hiruzen smiled again, his cheeks creasing like aged leather. “I believe I do. Come along then.”

After sending his pack back out into the forest, Kakashi followed him, hiding his apprehension.

Hiruzen led him up several flights of stairs, to a large room shaped like a half moon. Windows covered the entire curved wall and a skylight let in sunlight overhead. “I know how you feel about being hemmed in,” Hiruzen said in a considerate tone. “Your sire, Sakumo, was the same, which is why I had this room built for him for the occasions he resided in the village proper.”

Kakashi couldn’t remember his sire ever residing in the village. From the time he was a tiny cub he had tottered after his proud sire in the woods. Still, there was something of Sakumo’s presence here in this lifeless shell of wood, metal and glass, something indefinable but reassuring. He could almost hear his father’s soothing bass rumble and something in him relaxed.

Kakashi relished in a luxuriously long, hot bath, drawn especially for him by Kurenai, Hiruzen’s daughter-in-law. There was a hot spring in the woods, but it hosted every yokai that lived in his territory and bade him obedience, so he seldom could spend long soaking there, and never alone.

When he emerged, it was close to mid-morning, and his pack had sent word that the party from Senju was on the main road and would reach Konoha before noon. Kakashi relayed their words to Hiruzen’s household and watched, amused, as what had been preparations for a simple luncheon were swiftly transformed into something more suitable to be served to honored guests. He even let himself be dragooned into helping rearrange the seating area by Asuma, who’d known him all his life.

They came out into the late morning sunlight at the sound of hoofbeats on the road leading to the tower.

Iruka only emerged when Tsunade and her escort dismounted in front of the tower. He still looked strained, but his smile was genuine when he bowed before her. “Tsunade-sama,” he greeted.

Tsunade swept forward, uncaring of propriety, and enveloped the young onmyouji in a hug.

Iruka stiffened for a second, before consciously relaxing into the embrace.

After an uncomfortably long moment, Tsunade pushed Iruka back and stared into his eyes. She seemed satisfied with what she saw there and her expression softened. She leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead, a gentle, motherly buss. She rested a hand on his chest, over his heart. “Always willing to give everything, even your heart, if it is asked of you. I am proud to call you of the line of Senju.”

Iruka gasped as if he had been struck. His brown eyes widened and he groped for words in a way that looked unnatural to Kakashi. “But...” Iruka stammered. “I am — I cannot... T-Tsunade-sama, I—”

Tsunade drew herself up, every bit the regal figure she had been at last year’s ritual. “Who I claim as my bloodline is my business. None other’s. No one can gainsay that.” She softened the stern tone with a smile.

Then she turned away from Iruka and strode regally over to Kakashi. She stopped in front of him, her gaze every bit as assessing and measuring as it had been at last years ritual.

Kakashi resisted the urge to growl at the scrutiny, but he allowed lightning to flicker around his clawed fingertips. Just to remind her of _who_ he was.

Faster than he could follow, one of her hands shot out and grabbed one of his furred ears, yanking his head down until he was eye-level with her. “You _will_ behave,” She admonished sternly. “Iruka-kun is a fully trained and very experienced exorcist, as well as being an onmyouji, so you will afford him respect, brat!”

Kakashi jerked away from her hand and rubbed his abused ear, a low growl building in his chest.

He glanced up and saw Iruka, who was hiding a small smile behind his hand. His expression had cleared and there was new resolution in his eyes. The strain in his face was slowly fading away.

The growl died in Kakashi’s throat, unvoiced.

Hiruzen broke the moment with a cough that was a very poor attempt to cover a laugh. “Well, now that the obligatory greetings are out of the way, shall we retire inside? Lunch is waiting.”

Tsunade laughed, a light dusting of rose on her cheeks. “We should. There is much to discuss for tomorrow.” She seemed unconcerned by the lack of proper form observed.

Folding his ears back in confusion, Kakashi followed them back into the tower.

Iruka had fallen back a pace and neatly fell into step beside Kakashi. “Thank you for staying,” he murmured, his face down but the rise of his cheek flushed with blood.

Kakashi found his hand rising of its own accord, clawed fingers delicately brushing a lock of Iruka’s hair back behind his ear. He regarded the traitorous limb with no little surprise. “You don’t have to thank me,” he murmured.

One brown eye glanced up at him before skittering quickly away. “Yes, I do.” Iruka picked up his pace, hurrying to Tsunade’s side.

Surprised, Kakashi followed the group inside.

After lunch, Kakashi found himself swept up in preparations for the ceremony. It was a novel experience, preparing for his own festival. For that’s what it was, a celebration of the pact between human and yokai that had kept the village safe for years. The blood-pact ceremony he usually took part in was only a small part of the festivities, and he’d never stayed for the whole thing. It was surprising, how much effort the village put into the yearly festival.

Stalls lined the streets, bright canopies blinding in the afternoon sunlight. The air was scented with the savory and sweet aromas of incense and more foodstuffs than Kakashi had ever seen in his life. Wolf-masks hung on every door and carvings of the various yokai of the forest decorated every conceivable surface. Children ran underfoot, helping in their own way, fetching and carrying things for the adults, helping to hang banners and chattering eagerly about the festival.

It was near dark when Kakashi managed to escape the clamor for a breath. He’d never been surrounded by so many people. Yokai were one thing, but humans were _loud_. He longed for the forest, but he’d promised Hiruzen that he’d remain. For lack of a better sanctuary, he fled to his shine.

The shrine was small, created in a time when the village was hardly more than a cluster of houses hiding in the shadows of the ancient forest, but it was cared for meticulously. Kakashi slipped inside and breathed a sigh of relief. Even in the midst of the village, the shrine exuded a sense of the forest, calming and beckoning.

Kakashi pricked his ears, a small sound alerting him that he was not alone. He effortlessly melted back into the shadows, to see who ventured into his sanctuary.

Iruka stepped into the the fading light of the setting sun, one hand caressing the exquisitely carved pillars that supported the roof. He bowed before the altar, upon which sat a jade representation of a wolf-yokai. A tiny bonsai between the statue’s paws represented the forest, with a miniature clay hut nestled in the roots of the tree standing in for the village.

Folding himself gracefully into a kneeling position, Iruka contemplated the statue for long moments, the fading sunlight painting shadows on his face. The darkness grew thicker, but Iruka did not move, lost in contemplation.

Unable to resist showing off in his own sanctuary, Kakashi let lightning flicker along his fingertips and directed it to the twin oil-lamps that sat on either side of the altar. Blue-white light transformed into mellow gold when the wicks caught.

Iruka turned to regard him without surprise. His face was composed, but Kakashi could smell the wary concern in him. His every muscle was tight and he held himself like a deer who had sighted the pack; like he might leap into flight at the first opportunity.

“What brings you to my shrine?” Kakashi asked, offering a smile and hoping that it would ease the tension.

Iruka let out a breath and placed his palms flat on the sanded boards of the floor, bowing his head. “Trying to center myself.” Iruka whispered faintly. “Trying to reconcile everything I know, and what I don’t know and where everything fits.”

Kakashi dropped to the floor beside him, folding his hands in his lap. “You’re not making a whole lot of sense.”

Iruka laughed, and if it was a little broken, he didn’t seem to care. “My whole world has ceased to make sense,” he murmured. “Tomorrow everything changes.”

Kakashi felt his ears go flat against his skull. He’d been right; there was something decidedly off about this. He’d known it from the moment in the forest when he’d first caught scent of Iruka. “What changes?”

He seemed to have genuinely surprised Iruka, because those brown eyes flew up to meet his, startled. “You — are you — wait, _what?_ ”

Kakashi bared his fangs in an irritated snarl, taking guilty pleasure in the flash of fear on Iruka’s face. “I’m getting a little tired of you humans thinking you can lead me about like a pet, and thinking I’ll sit idly by while you plot things without sharing.”

“We have never thought of you that way,” The mellow voice startled both of them.

Kakashi whirled, rising to his feet with an impressive snarl and a fist full of lightning to face the doorway of the shrine.

Tsunade stood in the soft amber glow of the lamps, dressed now in a draping lavender kimono. “I had come to see if you would be coming to dinner, but I think this discussion should take precedence.”

Kakashi let the lightning fade from his grasp, but continued growling, a deep basso grumble vibrating his chest and filling the small shrine.

Tsunade’s cherry-red lips quirked up in a rueful smile and her expression was wry. “Let me guess; Hiruzen, the stupid old fart, didn’t bother explaining anything to you, did he?”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “Explain what?” he rumbled angrily.

Undeterred by his anger, Tsunade stepped further into the lamplight, easily seating herself on the wooden floor next to Iruka, robes pooling gracefully around her. “Before I say anything, tell me exactly what you know of the ritual taking place today,” she said calmly. “Assume that I know nothing and tell me everything.” Before he could give voice to the protest rising up in his throat, she raised a slender hand. “Humor me, please?”

Kakashi noticed that when she lowered her hand, she rested it lightly, reassuringly, on Iruka’s clenched fist.

Still growling softly under his breath, Kakashi sorted his thoughts quickly. “Konoha is a part of my protectorate, and as such, yearly, we renew the pact between our ancestors. The first of my line, and the clans that founded the village here in the shadows of the ancient forest made pledge that the yokai would protect the village and the humans would freely offer up a bit of blood and the life-energy in it to support those protections we would weave.”

Tsunade’s hazel gaze softened. “And that’s everything?” 

Kakashi nodded.

“So many gaps and so much knowledge lost,” she murmured. “Your sire died when you were still young, yes?”

Flinching, Kakashi knew his pinned back ears indicated just how upset he was, but he couldn’t seem to help it. “Yes,” he growled. “There was a tribe of Oni in the northern hills who tried to invade the forest. He was killed, but not before destroying them.”

Tsunade sighed. “That follows. You were too young for him to have told you everything.”

“Everything about what?”

“The reason the pact is sealed with blood goes back to our mutual ancestors—” Tsunade began.

“ _You lie!_ ” Kakashi raged, bristling. “I have no human blood!”

“No, you don’t, nor do I have yokai blood.” Tsunade said calmly. “But we do have common blood. When the village was founded, my great-great-great grandfather was among the people. He was a onmyouji of great power, determined to do what he could to protect those he cared for from the yokai that prowled the forest. He wore himself to a thread, weaving protections for the village and still tried to do more, pleading with any yokai that would listen to make peace. Few would listen and fewer still were the ones who didn’t try to eat him for his pains. However, one night, he came upon the scene of a great battle. Several kamaitachi had attacked a white wolf yokai. Though she had managed to defeat them, it was not without great cost to herself. She was badly injured and had almost no strength left to her. 

“Several other lesser demons thought to finish her off, and thus gain her territory and power. My ancestor offered to share his power with her, so that she could have the strength to battle them. In return, he asked that she include the village in the territory she called her own and protected. She agreed and they sealed the pact in blood.” Tsunade regarded Kakashi for a long moment before taking her hand from Iruka’s and reaching out to Kakashi. 

Kakashi almost flinched away, but she merely lifted the lightning-embroidered sleeve of his haori. “One thread breaks, but weave them together and you get something stronger. So worked the pact. She became incredibly powerful, able to subdue the strongest demons, banish hungry ghosts, and hold the entire forest as her territory. And my ancestor, the onmyouji, became, in part, a yokai. The bond worked best when they were together, they discovered, and in time, they grew to love each other. She bore two young to him, one full yokai, and one who was human in all respects, though an onmyouji like her father. Through those lines, we are each descended.”

Kakashi tugged his sleeve from her fingers, growling. “Assuming I believe this fantastical tale of yours, what is your point?”

“The yearly pact ensures the protections remain strong, but your power will start waning soon. That’s why each generation, an onmyouji comes to the village to offer their power to your line. Your mother was an onmyouji, a friend of mine since childhood. Alas, she died when you were very young.” Tsunade finished.

Wheels clicked into place in Kakashi’s head and suddenly things started making a lot more sense. Hiruzen and his _‘something very, very right’_ and the room built specifically for his father when he resided in the village. Iruka’s uneasiness and assertion that everything would change tomorrow. The invitation for the Senju and her onmyouji to come attend the ceremony. With each piece that fell into place, the more furious Kakashi became.

He rose to his feet, every inch the demon-wolf of the forest. While the shrine was too small for him to resume his natural form, his power could, and did, fill every corner of it, a wave of pressure making the old boards shriek in a cacophony of protest. This time, his growl was full-throated, an angry underscore to words bitten off in fury. “So, let me see if I have this right...”

He turned angry, mismatched eyes on Tsunade, knowing the red eye was burning with the full fury of his wolf-demon heritage. He could feel the heat of it on his skin. “Every generation, you people coerce an onmyouji into this pact just to be sure this miserable little village remains protected?” The shrine shuddered in time with his furious, growling words. “I am the master of this forest and I want _nothing_ to do with your scheming. I’d sooner dissolve the pact entirely than have someone coerced into sharing power with me!” Kakashi roared the last words right into Tsunade’s face.

He had never truly hated a human before, but Tsunade and Hiruzen were rapidly making their way to the top of the list of creatures he loathed. Kakashi snarled at Tsunade, sitting unmoved on the floor, his hands crooking into lethal claws, lightning playing on his fingertips.

In a flash, Iruka was standing between them. He planted both hands on Kakashi’s chest and shoved him back a pace. He was shaking and his face was pale, but fury had turned his brown eyes black as coal.

“I was not coerced!” he hissed angrily, lips pulled back to bare his teeth.

Startled, Kakashi nonetheless recouped with a growl. “You think I don’t know coercion when it smacks me in the face? I saw your expression! That kind of anxiety doesn’t come from normal means! They forced you into this!”

Iruka stilled, his pale face suddenly suffused with color. His hands dropped away from Kakashi’s chest like puppets with cut strings. “They didn’t force me into anything,” he retorted, his voice gone strangely calm.

Behind him, Tsunade spoke up, rising gracefully to her feet. “We made the offer. It was always his choice or not to accept.”

Kakashi turned his snarl back on her. “And just how many others did you offer the option to? Did you have a back-up plan in case he refused, or would you have kept at him until he accepted?” Deftly sidestepping Iruka, Kakashi stalked her, gliding smoothly over the worn wood. “You forget, I am a wolf. I tasted his power the moment he set foot in my forest. So very much power, even held in check with this—”

Kakashi flicked a claw out, catching the juzu wrapped around Iruka’s wrist, stretching the bone beads out. “He told me himself, it’s meant to tame. To keep his power in check so none would know just how powerful he truly was. But it can’t fool this nose.” All it would take was closing his fingers a bit more and the threads would break, shattering the juzu’s power and freeing Iruka’s.

Kakashi lowered his face and snarled directly into Tsunade’s. “He has more spiritual power than most yokai ever possess, even the ones who are nothing _but_ spirits! There is no way you would ever, ever let that slip your grasp. How better to keep him under your thumb by getting him to ‘ _volunteer_ ’ to be bound to me?”

Beside him, Iruka made a choking sound. It only served to cement Tsunade’s guilt in Kakashi’s mind. His growl deepened.

“No.” Gentle fingers firmly disentangled his from the juzu. Iruka turned to face him, brown eyes solemn and expression calm. “Neither Tsunade-sama nor Hiruzen-san are to blame. They only asked. It was my decision. I chose this willingly.”

Kakashi snorted and shook his head.

Iruka reached out and cupped his cheek, forcing Kakashi to face him. “I did. I wished for this; asked Tsunade-sama about it years ago, before it was even needful.” He laughed softly. “I know I seem anxious, but who wouldn’t be, binding themselves to another being for the rest of their life?” Iruka raised his hand, juzu rattling softly on his wrist. “And if I wear this now, to tame my own power, what must it be like to have even more power as a part yokai? More than enough anxiety for any one man.” He smiled wanly at Kakashi. “And what if you didn’t like me? The binding would force us to be in close proximity. It would be painful if you hated me.”

“And you?” Kakashi found his mouth dry. “If you hated me, would it not be equally painful?”

Iruka’s smile grew. “As I don’t hate you, no.”

Kakashi closed his eyes, feeling Iruka’s hand warm against his cheek and breathing in his scent. Iruka wasn’t lying. There was no smell of deceit.

Tsunade’s voice, warmly amused, broke into the moment. “I’ll just let everyone know you’ll not be coming in for dinner. We’ll have something put aside for you.”

Kakashi bit back a growl.

Iruka chuckled softly. “My thanks, Tsunade-sama.” When she was gone, he turned his attention back to Kakashi. “I think the time until the ritual tomorrow night will best be spent getting to know each other.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lamps in the shrine had burnt their wicks down and the waxing moon hung high in the sky by the time they emerged, finding food had been set out for them in boxes resting on the steps of the shrine and guarded by Konohamaru, Hiruzen’s grandson. He would have lingered to watch them eat had Kakashi not growled testily at him.

Iruka chuckled. “He thinks by watching you, he can learn the secrets of being strong. He was telling me all about you earlier.”

Kakashi investigated the contents of the boxes under the moonlight. “What can he know about me? He’s only seen me at the yearly ritual.”

Iruka smirked and took one of the boxes out of Kakashi’s hands. “You’d be surprised.”

Kakashi sneezed and looked at him in disbelief. “You don’t believe anything that brat says, do you?”

Iruka laughed. “That depends. Do you have a secret weakness for grilled saury? If so, then, yes, I believe him.”

“No, I do not,” Kakashi grumbled.

“Oh?” Iruka lifted a grilled saury out of the box in his hands, the fish neatly threaded on a bamboo skewer. “Then I guess I’ll eat all of these, then.”

Kakashi flattened his ears and snatched the skewer out of Iruka’s hand. “What else did he tell you?”

“Ah-ah,” Iruka scolded, laughing. “I’m not telling you.”

Kakashi sneezed derisively and took a vicious bite out of the fish.

Iruka leaned back on his hands, the bento box ignored in his lap. He gazed up at the moon above, his eyes distant and contemplative. “Shall we spend the night here, Kakashi-san? I do not wish to go back to the tower and find myself the focus of so many eyes.”

Kakashi had been looking forward to another hot bath, but he was not loathe to remain here. There were too many humans at the tower, all too loud and troublesome. He nodded gravely.

A wind that still bore the cold breath of early spring blew in from the forest and Kakashi lifted his nose to sample it. The night was quiet, no disturbances he could see or scent.

He noticed Iruka shiver beside him. “Let’s go back inside.”

Iruka nodded and gathered up the bento boxes, carrying them into the interior of the shrine. Kakashi followed, after judging how few hours remained in the night. 

While Iruka concentrated on dimming the lamps, Kakashi sprawled on the floor. There might be just enough room for him to shift back to his natural form, so long as he remained lying down and curled up. “Iruka?” He called. “Might want to stay out of the way. I’m going to shift.”

Iruka nodded and pressed himself against the wall beside the altar.

Kakashi discovered, while he did take up most of the available floor space, he was not as crowded as he thought he’d be. He nodded. “Come over here,” he nodded to the curve of his side. “You can use me as a backrest and both of us can get some sleep.”

Iruka nodded and settled against his side with a sigh. Within moments, his breathing had evened out into the rhythm of sleep.

Kakashi lowered his head to his forelegs, but didn’t sleep. He felt much more settled, lying there in the darkness, knowing that Iruka was truly willing to bind his life to Kakashi’s and to the village.

During the course of their discussion, Iruka had expressed how all his life he had been utterly fascinated by the yokai and how easily they wielded the power he struggled to command. He had learned how to exorcise them after one too many close encounters with the most vicious, which had earned him the slash across his face. It would have cost him his eyes if he’d been just a hair slower. 

Kakashi sighed in the darkness and considered the figure at his side. He’d be a fool to refuse what was so freely offered, the kind of power Iruka possessed. He wasn’t aware of his eyes closing and sleep claiming him at last.

He woke about midday, the sun already high in the sky. Iruka was awake beside him and smiled, stretching leisurely. “We should probably put in an appearance before tonight,” Iruka laughingly chided. “They might think you ate me or something.”

Kakashi made a disgusted face, but shifted back to his human form and rose.

They emerged from the shrine to find Asuma waiting for them. He only grunted and shrugged. “C’mon then, you’ll want to clean up before the ceremony tonight. And lunch is waiting.”

He led them back to the tower where a hearty luncheon awaited. 

Hiruzen smiled beneficently at them when they arrived, wearing an expression of pleased satisfaction that grated on Kakashi’s nerves. Only Iruka’s calming hand on his arm kept him from growling aloud at the old man.

Tsunade rose from her seat, and stood in front of Iruka, staring deep in his eyes for a long, considering moment. Finally, she smiled and waved him to a place at the table. 

She turned her attention to Kakashi, regarding him soberly for a long moment. At last, she simply nodded and returned to her seat at the table.

The rest of the day was taken up in frantic preparation for the ritual.

Finally, the sun edged down into the horizon, painting the sky a glory of reds and oranges. It was time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiruzen picked up a needle of glass and raised his hand for silence. “With this we renew the pact that keeps our village safe for another year.” He pricked his index finger and let a bead of blood, black in the moonlight, well up and drop into the thin lacquered bowl sitting on the low stone. One by one, the villagers each came to the stone altar, each picking up a glass needle and pricking their finger as Hiruzen had, letting a drop of their blood fall into the thin bowl. When the last, a child held in his mother’s arms, had let blood, Hiruzen passed the bowl to Iruka.

Iruka cradled the bowl carefully in both hands and stepped to face Kakashi, holding it out in offering. “Do you accept this blood in tribute to keep the village and those within it under your protection, Kakashi-sama?”

Kakashi, in full wolf form, nodded his massive head gravely. “I accept and willingly renew the pact, giving the village and its inhabitants my protection.”

Iruka knelt and placed the bowl before Kakashi.

Kakashi called upon his power and breathed over the bowl, his hot breath rippling the blood. The liquid transformed into a thick, dark-red mist, swirling upwards out of the bowl. Kakashi drew in a great breath, inhaling some of the mist, and then breathed out, sending the rest of it out into the darkness, where it would bond with and enhance the protections woven around this place for generations.

Iruka picked up the now empty bowl and returned it to Hiruzen, accepting in turn a thin-bladed glass knife, sharp enough to wound the wind. “With my blood, I consent to share my power with you, that you might defeat any who might threaten you and those you protect. I willingly give this tribute of blood that we might share power.” Iruka carved a careful cut across his wrist.

Kakashi shifted into his human form and stepped forward to take the knife, cutting a matching slice across his arm. “I share blood and power with you, that we might meet and defeat all who would threaten what we hold dear, equals in power and strength.”

He held his arm over Iruka’s so that the two cuts lined up, clasping his fingers firmly around the part of Iruka’s wrist past the cut. Iruka matched his gesture, turning his fingers up to hold Kakashi’s forearm.

Tsunade stepped forward, winding a red silk scarf around their wrists, knotting it swiftly. “As before, so it is again. These two share blood and power and all benefit.”

Kakashi felt Iruka’s blood burning in the slash, an electrifying upwelling of pure energy searing through him, making every bit of his skin tingle. Unable to contain it, he threw back his head and howled, a triumphant cry. Distantly, he heard his pack echo it and even more faintly, the cheer of the humans gathered around them, but all his attention was focused on Iruka, and the joyous feeling surging through him. If this was what Sakumo had shared with Kakashi’s mother, no wonder he had never taken another mate after her death. There was nothing to compare to the feel; the sense that he was now one with Iruka, bound together by blood.

Iruka, too, looked transfixed, his brown eyes gone wide and his mouth open slightly. His wrist trembled in Kakashi’s grasp. He shivered convulsively, bowing forward. The juzu on his opposite wrist snapped, beads pattering like rain around their feet. Iruka closed his eyes and drew a deep, shaking breath, his body stilling as he did so. He opened his eyes to reveal they were now as slitted as Kakashi’s. Iruka smiled and let his breath out in a tremulous sigh.

Tsunade stepped forward and untied the scarf, freeing their hands. The blood from the cuts was gone, as were the cuts themselves, replaced by matching silvery scars, shaped like crescent moons.

Hiruzen stepped up beside her and took both of their wrists, holding them aloft so the crowd could see the matched scars. “The bond is made and good. Now let us celebrate that we are safe for another year!”

The crowd roared and began to disburse, heading for the festival booths, cheering and chattering loudly.

Iruka shuddered beside Kakashi, drawing in another breath. “I can smell you,” he marveled softly. “I can smell everything.”

Hiruzen laid a fatherly hand on Iruka’s shoulder and patted Kakashi on the arm, looking up into his face with twinkling eyes. “My boy, why don’t you take Iruka inside,” he said, nodding toward the shrine. “And help him adjust.”

Feeling Iruka shiver beside him, Kakashi nodded. He took Iruka’s arm, feeling the heat of his skin through the fabric. Frowning, he aided Iruka up the steps of the shrine, surprised when Iruka leaned into him.

Iruka buried his face in the crook of Kakashi’s neck, breath hot on his skin. “I can _smell_ you,” he murmured again.

A little alarmed, Kakashi looked for Hiruzen, but the old man had vanished.

Iruka glanced up, his newly-slitted eyes wide and dilated. His hands came up and clutched the neck of Kakashi’s haori. He tugged Kakashi’s head down and fastened his lips over Kakashi’s in a wildly hungry kiss.

Stunned, Kakashi gasped, reeling.

Iruka used the opening to aggressively deepen the kiss, his tongue invading Kakashi’s mouth in a campaign of seduction. 

It worked. 

Kakashi had to force himself to pull away, before he did something like shoving Iruka up against one of the pillars and taking him right there. “Iruka...” he panted, burying his face in the curve of Iruka’s neck.

Iruka’s scent was overwhelming and Kakashi pressed his nose to the join of shoulder and throat to inhale deeply. It was heady; spiked with lust and flavored with musk and sweat, and so strong Kakashi could practically taste the mix of need and desire. Kakashi had never known anything like it before. It drilled into his nose and wrapped itself firmly around his mind, driving out everything but the most base of instincts; the claiming of a mate, the need to rut against Iruka until he had marked him as unequivocally Kakashi’s.

Wrapping his arms around Iruka, Kakashi hauled him into the dimly lit interior of the shrine, shoving the wooden door shut so hard it rattled loudly in its frame. Hurriedly, struggling to maintain some sort of mental balance, Kakashi sketched a ward of sealing in the air. With the influx of power he’d gotten from Iruka, it glowed a bright blue and ran lines of warding not only over the door, but along every seam and wall.

Kakashi was too distracted to care, what with the warm weight of Iruka pressing against him, hungry and wanting.

Growling in his throat, Iruka fumbled with the ties of Kakashi’s haori. His eyes were fever-bright and his neck and cheeks were flushed with arousal. Forgetting about the ties when they failed to yield to his frantic tugs, he attacked Kakashi’s throat with lips and teeth and tongue.

The feel of Iruka’s teeth against his neck heightened Kakashi’s own desire to the point of madness.

With a single jerk of his claws, the ties of Iruka’s hakama were nothing more than shreds and the fabric fell, pooling around Iruka’s ankles. His fundoshi followed seconds later, freeing an impressive erection, flushed nearly purple with blood and leaking precome.

Iruka kicked the fabric aside and tore his simple white gi off before attacking Kakashi’s throat again, panting harshly against his skin. “Can’t control it,” he pleaded, shaking. “Need you... now!”

The words were like a punch to the gut, sending a searing wave of lust through every fiber of Kakashi’s being. His own cock sprang to full and painful attention.

He barely had the presence of mind to strip away his own clothing, Iruka’s frantic hands more hindrance than help.

Iruka growled, wolf-like, and hooked a leg around Kakashi's, tumbling them both down on their discarded clothing.

Kakashi instinctively rolled to protect Iruka from the impact with the wood flooring and wound up with a naked Iruka writhing in his lap, grinding their cocks together.

Lunging up, Kakashi captured Iruka’s mouth in a bruising kiss, rolling them so Iruka was under him, back pressed to the floor.

Iruka grunted and and wrapped his legs around Kakashi’s hips, digging his heels into the back of Kakashi’s thighs.

Working a hand between their bodies, Kakashi gripped Iruka’s leaking cock, giving it a firm stroke. He managed a grin, watching Iruka’s eyes roll. Kakashi let out a surprised huff when Iruka jerked forward to claim his mouth in a bruising kiss that only ended when he bit down on Kakashi’s lip, drawing blood. He shamelessly thrust once; twice, into Kakashi’s hand before coming with only a faint, pained-sounding groan, smearing semen on Kakashi’s hand and belly.

The smell of Iruka’s come, musky and hot in the close air of the shrine, nearly drove Kakashi into his own orgasm, but he staved it off with a fierce effort. Deep inside, on some instinctual level, he knew that he had to physically claim Iruka as his mate.

Indeed, Iruka was still writhing restlessly beneath him, his erection showing no sign of flagging. Shivering, he lapped at the blood he’d drawn. “Not enough,” he complained faintly.

Kakashi’s hand knocked into one of the oil lamps and he heaved a sigh, capturing Iruka’s lips again. “I know,” he breathed against them. The oil spilled, slick and cool, on his fingers.

With that sensation came enough mental clarity to pull back and gently urge Iruka up on his knees. 

Iruka kissed him again and let himself be maneuvered, effortlessly rising to his knees and bracing his hands against the low altar. He smiled ferally over his shoulder at Kakashi, his canines sharper than they had been this morning. “Coming?”

“Not yet,” Kakashi hissed under his breath, pressing his oil-slick fingers under the curve of Iruka’s buttocks. 

Iruka willingly spread his legs further and curved his spine, tipping his ass higher. “Hurry,” he whispered, low and wanton. “I need you.”

Swallowing, Kakashi traced his claws gently around the tight furl of Iruka’s anus, earning a soft sound and a twitch from Iruka. He pressed two fingers in, carefully, just past the first knuckle.

Iruka gasped and pushed his hips back, head dropping and shoulders hunched. He took a breath and rolled his hips, engorged cock swinging between his thighs and muscles rippling under his sweat-damp skin. “More,” he pled breathlessly.

Kakashi pushed his fingers deeper and parted them slowly for a few moments before bringing them together again, repeating the action with great care..

Moaning, Iruka pushed back until Kakashi's fingers were completely buried in him. Panting slightly, he glanced back over his shoulder. “I won’t break,” he growled. “Get on with it!”

Kakashi found a breathless laugh escaping him. “Pushy!” he chided, twisting his fingers.

“You want pushy?” Iruka snarled, “I’ll give you pushy; fuck me now, dammit!” Releasing his death grip on the altar, he pulled away, snatched up the tipped lamp and unceremoniously dumped the remaining oil on Kakashi’s cock.

Hissing at the feel of the cold oil on overheated skin, Kakashi was unprepared for Iruka’s sudden shove backwards. He landed on his ass, startled, oil trickling over his thighs.

Iruka straddled his waist, brown eyes dark and wild. He grabbed Kakashi’s cock in one hand and guided it to his entrance, his other hand reaching to steady himself on Kakashi’s thigh. His hand slipped in the excess oil. With a snarl, Iruka caught himself and sought for a new grip, fingers clenching painfully just above Kakashi’s knee. Growling, Iruka repositioned himself and pushed down hard, seating Kakashi’s dick deep within his ass. He stilled, hand tightening on Kakashi’s leg..

“Iruka...” Kakashi pushed himself up on his elbows.

“I’m fine,” Iruka hissed, shifting himself slowly. “Just give me a moment to adjust.” He shot out his other hand and caught a fistful of Kakashi’s shaggy hair, yanking his head up. "And then you’re fucking me until neither of us can move!”

After Iruka released his hair, Kakashi experimentally bucked his hips upward.

Releasing a strangled yowl, Iruka used both hands to grip Kakashi’s shoulders. He rocked backwards, into a second thrust, keening. 

Kakashi braced his feet on the floor and shoved himself up into a sitting position. He wrapped his arms around Iruka’s waist and ground deep into the body above him. Kakashi drove upward with a succession of quick thrusts, knowing he wouldn’t last much longer.

Iruka choked, but pressed back, his thick cock slapping against Kakashi’s stomach from the force of his thrusts. Eyes wide, Iruka shuddered, bucking wildly.

Kakashi groaned and sank his teeth into Iruka’s shoulder, feeling Iruka tremble around him. The sting of pain seemed to push Iruka over the edge, his body tightening around Kakashi’s cock and his own cock twitching and spurting come between their bodies.

Unable to resist the pulsating contractions around his cock, Kakashi buried himself to the hilt, his own orgasm roaring over him, as unstoppable as a wildfire, and twice as breath-stealing. He tumbled Iruka on his side, hips still working in sharp jerks as he emptied his seed into Iruka.

At last they both stilled, panting and trembling with aftershocks.

Struggling to get his breath back, Kakashi licked the wound he’d made, right where Iruka’s neck met shoulder. He’d left neat holes where his canines had broken the skin and the whole area was rapidly turning blue and purple.

Iruka shivered, breath stuttering in his throat before slowly relaxing.

Sated and immensely disinclined to move more, Kakashi draped his arm over Iruka’s hip, the tip of his tail resting on Iruka’s thigh.

Iruka sighed, his own arm covering Kakashi’s. “That was... unexpected.”

Kakashi grunted in agreement, his lips just brushing the purpling bite. “A little. But certainly not unwelcome,” he rumbled softly. “Where did you get such a carnal education?”

Iruka, shivering a little, colored. “Tsunade-sama’s aides, Kotetsu and Izumo. They’re about as enthusiastic as a pair of rabbits in spring. With considerably fewer morals,” he said frankly. “It was quite... enlightening.”

“I noticed.” Kakashi couldn’t resist a smirk.

Iruka flushed a deeper red. “But...” he said thoughtfully. “I can’t help but think Hiruzen-san _knew_ what would happen when we completed the bond. He’s old enough to have been around during your father’s ceremony. And maybe I was just imagining the look on his face when he told you to take me into the shrine.”

“No,” Kakashi growled. “I don’t think you were.” Eyes narrowing, he thought back on some of Hiruzen’s actions and saw them in an entirely new, and unflattering, light. “I’m going to rip strips off of that old bastard for this!” he snarled, ears pinned back.

Iruka tensed. “Are—” he paused and wet his lips before carefully continuing. “Are you that displeased by—-this—between us?”

Kakashi could almost taste Iruka’s anxiety, the new bond between them making it as much a part of him as it was Iruka. “No,” he rumbled softly, tightening his hold on Iruka. “Never with you. With Hiruzen and his scheming, you bet your ass.”

Iruka sighed, and relaxed a bit. “Still,” he went on. “I don’t know if this was entirely the best thought-out of actions. I might be part yokai now, but I rather doubt I can give you a cub to carry on your line.” He looked down his naked body at the cock now lying flaccid on his thigh.

Kakashi buried his face in Iruka’s shoulder, snorting laughter. “That would be something to see,” he chortled. “But it doesn’t concern me. All of my pack is related to me to a greater or lesser degree. My power and my protectorate will pass on to them... eventually. I plan to be around for years to come, yet.”

“Good,” Iruka murmured, settling more comfortably in Kakashi’s hold. “I think I’d like you to be around for all those years,” he breathed against Kakashi’s lips.

Feeling his cock stirring with renewed interest, Kakashi captured Iruka’s smiling lips with his own.

After a moment, Iruka pulled back, flushed and laughing. “We’ll get back to that in a minute,” he chided laughingly, holding up a finger to block Kakashi’s attempt to continue the kiss. “First I’m going to help you figure out a way to get back at Hiruzen-san.” he smirked. “One he will definitely never forget.”

“I like the way you think.” Kakashi laughed and kissed the finger across his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Remember to leave a comment below, or at the [LJ post](http://kakairu-fest.livejournal.com/121398.html?mode=reply#add_comment)!
> 
>  
> 
>   
> **Appendix of Terms:**
> 
>  
> 
> [Fundoshi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundoshi): Mens undergarment  
> [Hakama](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakama): Commonly a pair of pleated pants wrapped and tied at the waist.  
> [Haori](http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/haorikim.html): A men’s jacket commonly worn open over a kimono.  
> [Juzu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juzu): Buddhist prayer beads. The one Iruka wears is a 108 bead mala, made of bone and meant to tame.  
> [Kamaitachi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamaitachi): A slashing sickle-clawed weasel yokai.  
> [Mitsugake](http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/pict/181266234622_1.jpg): A three fingered archery glove, used to protect the fingers when drawing the bow.  
> [Oni](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni_\(folklore\)): A japanese demon; similar to an ogre.  
> [Onmyouji](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onmyouji): A specialist in magic and divination; also said to have power quite similar to a yokai.  
> [Yokai](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%8Dkai): A supernatural being, any of a pantheon of spirits and creatures from Japan.  
> [Yumi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yumi): Japanese longbow.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Great Protector](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5565349) by [radkoko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/radkoko/pseuds/radkoko)




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